


Lanterns

by Bandity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Flashbacks, Gen, Ghosts, Homesickness, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, Minor Injuries, Near Drowning, PTSD, Panic Attacks, almost vomit?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 01:04:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16460516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: As a child, Lance had always been warned against going near water sources at night, but Pidge had teased him and he was quick to deny how scary the swamp looked.One triple dare later and Lance agreed that he would sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night and stay in the marsh until morning. Because he wasn’t scared.Not at all.





	Lanterns

**Author's Note:**

> Halloween fic actually posted before Halloween. I'm shocked. Fair warning, this turned out way fluffier than I meant it to. Also, I attempt to keep things simple... ish. Please excuse mistakes.

 

_“You should not look in when the candles are lit.”_

_–Gollum, The Two Towers_

It was when the cold and damp started to seep through his jacket that Lance realized he had made a mistake. He had been so determined to prove he wasn't scared that he'd risen to Pidge's dare way too easily. He hadn’t even made any kind of proper bet with her. Besides defending his own honor, he wasn’t getting anything out of this awful experience.

Parnlia, the current planet they were on, was covered in marshland and large lakes. Lance had merely passively commented about the long reeds that sprung up everywhere. He would have kept his mouth shut if he’d known it was going to lead to this.

Their hosts, the Parnlians, had been delighted to tell them about the deadreeds; famous for ensnaring lost travelers and said to be crawling with ghosts… or sprites. Lance wasn’t sure everything was translating correctly.

As a child, Lance had always been warned against going near water sources at night, but Pidge had teased him and he was quick to deny how scary the swamp looked.

One triple dare later and Lance agreed that he would sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night and stay in the marsh until morning. Because he wasn’t scared.

Not at all.

They had gone to great lengths to keep it from the adults. Shiro wouldn't have let him go because it was stupid and probably dangerous.

Lance’s foot found a ditch and the rest of him went sliding down after it. It wasn’t a far fall, but he still ended up on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Lance winced as he tried to sit up. His shoulder hurt a lot. He distantly wondered if he had dislocated it.

He felt the mud sticking to his hair and head. With grime covered hands he tried to clear it away.

It didn't work.

This was becoming disgusting and he was starting to shake from the cold now.

He should have come in his armor, at least then he would have more light than from the mud splattered flashlight he had brought.

Speaking of, his flashlight had landed in the mud to his right. It was flickering feebly as he tried to clear gunk from the lens. This wasn't even really scary anymore, it was just painful and annoying and-

The flashlight went out completely, leaving him in darkness.

_Okay._

Lance blinked at the darkness surrounding him, trying to find the long reeds that he knew were there. With the dim light from a half moon Lance could barely see them; long dark tendrils that swayed gently in the wind.

But.

He didn't feel any wind.

With a great amount of effort Lance pushed himself to his feet, the mud squelched and tried to suction him back, but he was propelled by a growing sense of panic.

They were moving. They were definitely moving and there was no reason for them to do that.

Lance lifted a foot and he really wished the ground didn't make so much noise as it pulled at his ankles and grabbed...

No. Not grabbed. _Not fingers or hands. Don't think about that._

His mind betrayed him as he thought about thin fingers coming up from the moist ground and wrapping around his legs, pulling him under. Lance looked down, dropped his useless flashlight and started wiping away the muck that had accumulated on his legs.

_Nothing there. Just swamp sludge._

Lance looked back at the reeds to find them completely still.

No wind, no movement.

He must have imagined it. It was too dark to really see after all and he had knocked his head a bit.

Lance felt mud seeping between his toes and with a heavy sigh he went to work walking back.

No way could he spend the rest of the night out here. He wasn't going back because he was scared, it was because it was dark and cold. Also, his shoulder really did hurt; though it was probably not dislocated he knew it was at least bruised from his fall.

Lance stopped in his tracks. This wasn't losing the dare, right? He'd been out here long enough to prove he was brave.

Because he wasn't scared. He was shaking from cold, not from fear.

Lance pulled his feet from the mud one loud squelch at a time. He tried not to think about how loud he was being, how he was giving his position away...

This wasn't a battle. He wasn't fighting Galra or anything else. It didn't matter how loud he was.

Lance still winced when his foot snapped a thin branch.

_Too loud. They're going to hear you._

Lance shook his head, sending muddy droplets flying.

_Nobody is going to hear you. You're the only one stupid- brave enough to be out here right now._

Lance pulled his foot free only to take another step and realize he'd lost a shoe.

"Noooo...." Lance groaned. He bent down and scrambled in the mud, searching for his sneaker. He couldn't see and digging his fingers into the mud only brought up more mud and random sticks.

Actually it was weird for there to be so many branches when this planet didn't have trees-

Lance blinked. He brought the stick in his hand towards his face and peered closely. The moon only offered so much light to see by. Lance squinted hard. A dull white branch that was bigger at the ends and...

_Bone. It's a bone._

Lance flung it away from him, letting out a yelp as he struggled backwards. He pulled his feet with all the strength he had, forgetting his shoe and trying to turn to run.

He hadn't gotten far when he fell forward, landing face first in the sludge.

He couldn't breathe.

Sputtering, Lance pushed himself up, it felt like the mud was pulling him down, down, down...

Lance spit and gasped. Unable to see, he struggled to his knees. Why was it so heavy? Why couldn't he get up? He needed to move. Move move move.

Lance struggled to crawl, trying to suppress the coughing fit that was threatening to come on.

A weight landed on his back and he let out a strangled scream.

He scrambled up, slipping and losing his other shoe in the process.

He ran and crawled and frantically pushed past reeds that slapped his face and he didn't care where he was going, but he wasn't going to stay here anymore.

He put his head down and concentrated on moving forward.

_There's something there. There's something there._

Lance's mind spiraled down into panic as he struggled to get away. He knew he screamed out something, but he wasn’t sure if it was a cry for help or a plead for whatever was there to get away from him.

Pulling himself onto more solid, grassier ground, Lance found the purchase to stand up fully. Pain shot up his leg and he realized he must have twisted his ankle when he tried to wrench it free from the mud. Limping heavily he made his way haphazardly through the mist that had settled around him.

His hand twitched, gripping for a bayard that wasn’t there.  

He walked and walked, listening for the sounds of the reeds moving, the sounds of footsteps, the sounds of soldiers…

Lance took a deep breath and shut his eyes. He wiped mud away from his face with shaking fingers.

_Not soldiers._

He was on his own, yes, there was danger here, but it wasn’t a fight.

_Ghosts._

Lance bit his lip, but he spit when he tasted the mud that had gathered there. He tried to remember the ghost story that the village leader had told them. He had said that spirits wandered the bog, lost. Lance had believed him. He was a believer. But Pidge had rolled her eyes and teased him for giving the marsh a weary look.

It was so stupid. Hunk had told him not to do it, to not rise to the dare, but Lance wasn’t a coward. And Pidge was so smart, so maybe there _weren’t_ ghosts.

A snapping twig made Lance jump and whip around.

There wasn’t anything there. Just more mist creeping along the ground.

Lance turned his head and for the first time since he had freed himself from the mud, he paid attention to his surroundings.

Everything was veiled in white. He couldn’t see past a few feet in front of him. The ground was hidden from view. The reeds that had loomed around him before were now nothing but dark shadows that shuddered in his periphery.

He was lost.

Lance spun in a slow circle. He swallowed down the whimper that had started to work up his throat.

_Be brave._

Lance moved forward. He didn’t know if it was the right way, but he couldn’t stay there. He was freezing and hurting and-

A breeze brushed passed him, chilling his already cold skin.

“…Lance…”

Lance froze. He listened hard. That had just been the wind, nobody was calling him, he was alone, nobody was-

“Lance…”

Lance whipped his head around, staring hard into the dark grey fog.

_There’s nothing there._

Everything went silent except for the sound of his heartbeat pounding away. Stiffly, he turned back around and began shuffling forward.

For a long time, the world was quiet.

He was left alone with his hammering heart and chattering teeth.

He couldn’t find his way back. He should never have done this. It was stupid. Why did he always do stupid-

A light up ahead.

A slight yellow glimmering, floating there in front of him. Though, perhaps it was farther away than he realized. Walking towards it didn’t bring it any closer. It still hovered there, out of reach. Lance wiped at his eyes. When he brought his surroundings back into focus, there was no light. There was nothing. Lance took a few small steps forward, he turned to the right and tried that direction, before changing his mind and turning back the other way. The wind picked up again and Lance shuddered against the cold hitting his face.

Crying.

Someone was crying.

The sound carried on the wind that was now steadily shaking the reeds around him. The mist swirled about and he could see openings in the fog that revealed the dark swamp that was hidden just out of view.

Was someone lost? It sounded quiet and small.

Like a kid.

Was there a lost kid?

“H-hello?” Lance forced out through shaking lips. “Anyone there?” Lance swallowed. He spun in his slow circle once more, looking for anything that wasn’t just darkness and fog.

There!

A split in the mist and Lance saw her. A little girl with dark hair, wearing a white dress, moving away from him…

“Hey!” Lance called, he picked up his pace. She was definitely crying and she was all alone. He needed to help her. This wasn’t any kind of place for a child.

The mist rolled and he lost sight of her. Lance hesitated before he sucked in a breath and resolutely marched into the fog.

“Wait!” Lance shouted. Worrying his voice wasn’t making it to her, he picked up his pace. If he looked hard enough he could see her through the fog, still moving away, still crying.

He landed on his ankle wrong and flinched at the pain. Lance put his hand on his knee, willing the pain to stop shooting up his leg like that.

When he looked up, he found the fog had parted enough that he could see her again. She was standing so still, but she wasn’t looking at him. Maybe she still hadn’t heard him.

Lance took a deep breath and rushed forward.

The ground fell out from under him and he was doused in cold darkness. As his mouth filled with water he realized he’d fallen into one of the lakes. He kicked out, trying to right himself, but he was in the dark and everything was upside down. There was something happening with his arms, he couldn’t move them. His wrists were being grabbed, grabbed and pulled down. Lance kicked hard, propelling himself back to the lake’s edge.

His head cracked against a rock and as stars exploded before his eyes he choked water down into his lungs. Lance wanted to fight, he wanted to keep trying and save himself, but there was no air and it was so cold and he was _scared_.

_I don’t want to die out here._

Lance reached out as best he could.

_Please._

Lance was jerked roughly to the side and he swallowed more water. Before he knew it, he was being roughly tossed onto shore. He choked and spluttered and spit water. Hands pushed him onto his side and patted his back too hard.

“Breathe. Breathe. You’re okay.”

Shiro.

Lance was definitely not crying, though he felt like he was unraveling with such ferocity that his mind was being left behind somewhere.

Shiro was talking and rubbing his back, trying to get him to calm. He gathered Lance up in a loose hold and that was when Lance noticed that Shiro was wearing the paladin armor. Lance again wished he had worn his. He was absolutely freezing. Coming out here like this in just his civilian clothes was stupid. Well coming out here was stupid to begin with.

“We need to get you back. Are you hurt?” Shiro was speaking firmly, but not without concern. Lance could sense the lecture coming in the near future.

“My- my head. My ankle,” Lance shuddered. Shiro shifted, brushed his fingers along Lance’s scalp and then turned to get a look at Lance’s feet.

“Where are your shoes?”

Lance burst into sudden sobs.

“There was someone there!” Lance rushed to explain. “A little girl, but I- but I don’t know.  I gave away my position and I don’t have my bayard and there were these reeds and fog and soldiers and-”

“What? What soldiers?”

“No.” Lance bit his trembling lip. That wasn’t right. What the hell was wrong with his stupid brain? “There weren’t. I just thought- I don’t know why. I-”

“Let’s get you out of here. I’m going to pick you up.”

“There was a girl.” Lance looked out to where he had seen her through the mist. He was surprised to see that the fog had cleared away and he was sitting on the edge of a large lake. The water was smooth and stretched out far into the darkness. There was no way a little girl could have been standing there.

“Are you sure?” Shiro asked carefully. Lance could hear the skepticism in his voice. Lance was crying while staring off into a dark abyss, claiming to see children. Yeah, if he was Shiro, he would have thought he was crazy too.

Lance pressed his fingers hard into his closed eyelids.

“No. No, I- can we just go?” Lance stammered. Without another word, Shiro gathered Lance close and carried him away to safety.

* * *

 

Shiro was grateful for his nightmare that night.

He couldn’t recall what it had been about, but it sent him stalking the hallways and patrolling the perimeter of the Castleship. He was surprised to find the castle’s loading ramp down and even more surprised to find Pidge and Hunk outside arguing.

Arguing about whether they should go after Lance or not.

“Lance went _where_?” His voice sharply rung through the night causing Hunk and Pidge to both jump. Hunk started stuttering and Pidge stared at the ground with wide eyes.

He had seen that look many times before on cadets’ faces.

_Busted._

One long stammered explanation from Hunk later and Shiro was rushing for his Paladin armor. He didn’t believe in ghost stories, but Lance had gone out into unsafe and unfamiliar territory with only a flashlight. And he had been gone for hours.

“I figured he’d chicken out and come right back!” Pidge had tried to explain. Shiro had ordered them to go back inside the ship, wake Coran and then _wait there_. He wasn’t going to have anyone else getting lost.

Shiro had only found Lance because the boy had screamed. Once he had gotten close enough, he just followed Lance’s trail through the mud. He could hear Lance shouting something, but it was more distressing when Lance had gone silent. Shiro didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t found the lake in time.

He carried Lance aboard the ship and was met by Coran right away.

“Infirmary,” Coran said immediately. Shiro nodded and strode forward. Pidge appeared in the corridor, followed by Hunk, but they stopped short. Lance looked a mess; pale, soaking wet and covered in mud and scratches.

“Lance…” Pidge mumbled. She started walking along Shiro, trying to get a look at her friend’s face. Lance lolled his head and met her eyes.

“You win,” Lance whispered. Pidge stopped in her tracks, watching their leader carry Lance away down the hall. She didn’t even care about the dare anymore. She _didn’t_. A hand landed on her shoulder and she turned to see Hunk giving her a sympathetic look.

“It’s not your fault,” Hunk patted her back. “The important thing is that Shiro found him. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”

Hunk had told them the dare was dumb. He had warned them. She was grateful he wasn’t going to hold it against her.

“I hope so.”

 It had all started out as a joke. She hadn’t realized how worried she would become for Lance. Pidge leaned into Hunk’s side, taking comfort from the warmth there.

“No more dares though. Okay?” Hunk squeezed her shoulder.

“Nope. Never again.” Pidge sighed.

* * *

 

Lance had gone silent as they cleaned him up. He had only nodded when they asked if he was able to stand on his own for a quick shower. After the grime was washed away, they set to getting him into a clean set of pajamas.

“He swallowed water from the marsh?” Coran asked as he dried Lance’s hair with a spare hand towel.

“I think he coughed most of it up.” Shiro wasn’t too sure really, Lance had choked up a lot of water, but he could easily still have aspirated some.

“We’ll keep an eye out for any infection.”

Coran’s expression went suddenly dark as he held up a hand, halting Shiro from pulling the shirt over Lance’s head. The Altean was staring hard at Lance’s back.

“What is it?” Shiro leaned around to see.

Lance’s back was covered in scratch marks. They weren’t incredibly deep, but they were raised and bleeding slightly. Shiro had noticed similar cuts on Lance’s arms and neck, but he had thought they were from running through the planet’s vegetation. However, now that the mud had been washed away, Shiro could see the pattern. He wanted to say an animal had done it, but they were too purposefully placed. Sets of five long parallel scratches ran from his shoulders down to his waist. These weren’t from an animal. They had been made thoughtfully.

Shiro knew the difference.

Shiro opened and shut his mouth. Unsure what to say. Lance shuddered and began to bend, starting to curl up on the exam table.

“Just a tick, my boy.” Coran rushed away to a cabinet and was back in a flash. He had grabbed a container of ointment, which he immediately set to work slathering over Lance’s entire back. “This will help. Then we can set you up with some heating compresses and elevate your leg. Alright?”

Lance nodded, but he hissed softly as Coran’s fingers dabbed at a particularly sore spot.

“Lance,” Coran’s tone had changed. He sounded more serious than he had before. “What did you see?”

Lance went still.

“See?” Lance whispered hesitantly.

“They say that those who follow the lights see many different things. I am curious, my boy.”

There was a long pause as Lance chewed his lip and stared at nothing.

“Was it real?” Lance whispered, his voice catching at the end.

“I think it depends on what you saw.”

Lance shuddered.

“Bones and lights and... a girl. Kind of dark hair, white dress. I was trying to help her.”

“But you know,” Coran motioned for Shiro to finally pull the shirt over Lance’s head, “the Parnlians on this planet do not have hair.”

“Oh.” Lance felt stupid. He hadn’t even realized.

“Did she look human?” Coran pulled at his moustache thoughtfully. Lance twisted his hands in the fabric of his shirt before nodding slightly.

“Like someone you know?”

Lance felt his mouth go dry. How could he have not realized? Though, maybe he had known it all along.

“My niece. She looked like my niece.”

“You worry about your family, about her.” It wasn’t a question. Coran had walked slowly around the exam table and he motioned for Lance to tilt his head so he could apply some of the ointment to his neck.

“She has nightmares and I always told her not to be scared.” Lance swallowed thickly. “I always had to check her closet for monsters. I said I would protect her, but I’m here now so…”

“I’m sure she is fine. On Parnlia, we don’t follow the lights, Lance. They will always try to trick you.”

“Are you saying there are actual ghosts out there?” Shiro was raising an eyebrow. “Ghosts that hurt him?”

“Nobody really knows what they are, the Parnlia lanterns, but they are real.” Coran motioned to the cuts still on Lance’s arms. “The Parnlian leader tried to warn you all. I didn’t think you would take it as a challenge.” Coran pulled at Lance’s wrist, stopping the boy from wringing his hands together so hard.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Because she had looked real. And wasn’t there only one reason why Lance would be seeing an apparition of his niece? “Do you think she’s okay? What if she’s not okay? It looked like a ghost, but if it was her ghost- How would I know if she’s okay?” Lance pulled his hand away from Coran. Panic had started to bloom in his chest. He was so far away, and who was watching his niece and nephew? Who was keeping an extra eye on them? Something horrible could happen and he would have no way of knowing.

“Oh no, no, no, my dear boy. I’m sure she is fine.” Coran set his hands lightly on Lance’s shoulders, careful of the soreness he knew the boy felt there. “You can’t dwell on the lanterns. People can get lost in them looking for answers. It’s going to be alright.”

Lance was going to argue, but he felt the last of his energy draining from him. He just nodded instead and Coran patted his arms in encouragement.  

When Lance’s ankle had finally been bandaged, he settled down on a cot in the infirmary with Shiro sitting in a chair beside him. They had given Lance all the blankets and heating compresses they had and he was swathed in them from head to elevated feet. The lighting in the infirmary had been dimmed and Lance had quieted, his breathing finally coming more easily to him.

“Lance,” Shiro said, breaking the quiet. Lance hummed a response. “You said there were soldiers. I wanted to talk to you about that, if you’re up to it.”

“I don’t know why. I don’t know.” Lance sighed. “I knew there weren’t any. I didn’t see them. I just thought they were there. It wasn’t like with the lights. It felt different.”

“Can you let me know if anything like that happens again?”

“Okay.” Lance sounded a little confused and Shiro wished he had more time and resources. He could barely handle his own flashbacks; he didn’t know what to do about Lance’s.

“You’re going to have to take it easy for a while. Give your ankle time to heal.” He wished he could give him more time to recover. Both inside and out.

“Shiro, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why?” Shiro blinked, caught off guard by the question.

“I was just thinking…Did you see anything out there?”

Shiro smiled carefully. Lance had pulled the blanket away, trying to get a better view of Shiro’s face.

“Nothing, I’m not used to.” Shiro tucked a blanket more firmly around Lance’s form. “Go to sleep, Lance. It’s been a long night.”

Lance’s eyes darted around the room. He was tired, completely exhausted even, but his mind was still turning over the events of the night in his mind. Was it really safe here? Could those things get into the ship? What if-

“I’m keeping watch. It’s going to be okay.”

Lance sighed. Right. Shiro was there.

He was safe.

* * *

 

Lance woke up to a weight on his chest and he had almost reached a full blown panic before he realized it was Pidge’s arm. Lance shoved her arm away. He appreciated the sentiment, but she had really scared him. He didn’t think he would like anything pressing down on him for a long time.

Pidge let out a snore and didn’t wake up.

“She felt bad, she hasn’t been able to sleep much.”

Lance looked over to find Hunk, sitting in the chair Shiro had occupied before.

“It was my own fault.” Lance was so tired.

“How do you feel?” Hunk leaned his elbows on Lance’s cot.

“Like I’ve been dragged through the worst scary movie.”

Pidge suddenly jolted awake. She looked around, apparently forgetting where she was for a moment, before her eyes landed on Lance.

“Lance,” Pidge quickly rubbed sleep from her eyes. “I’m sorry I said you were too chicken. You’re not too chicken.” She hit his arm softly with her open palm. “You’re probably one of the bravest people I know.”

Lance smiled slightly. No need to tell her how terrified he had been all night.

“Don’t worry about it. You were teasing. That’s what friends do, y’know?”

Pidge released a breath she was holding and collapsed into his side.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too.” Lance shut his eyes and exhaled slowly.

“Going back to sleep?” Hunk asked.

Lance nodded. Pidge let out an affirmative noise, muffled by blankets.

“Relax while you can, once Shiro wakes up and he realizes you’re feeling better, we’re all in for the lecture of a lifetime.”

Lance groaned. He was not looking forward to that. Hunk patted the top of his head, smoothing down his hair.

“Don’t scare me like that again, okay?”

“Promise,” Lance’s mouth quirked up in a small smile.

Pidge shifted against his side, stealing some of his blankets away.

The events of the night faded away to the back of his mind and maybe he would have to face those memories again. But for now, he was with his friends.

As long as they were together, there was nothing to fear.

That’s what it meant to be part of a family.

 

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> And Keith and Allura woke up really confused as to what the heck had happened with everyone all night. 
> 
> This fic was mostly inspired by the fact that I learned that will-o-wisps are also known as Jack-o-lanterns.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please do leave a comment!


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